[wbs] response to 'Survey of W3C Community and Business Groups'

The following answers have been successfully submitted to 'Survey of W3C
Community and Business Groups' (public) for Roger Cutler.



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Overall Experience
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Please rate your overall experience according to the following aspects:

 * Your overall experience with Community Groups and Business Groups.: [ 3
+++ ] 
 * Have you found the Community Groups and Business Groups documentation
adequate (FAQ, policy summaries, etc.)?: [ 2 ++ ] 

Comments (or a URI pointing to your comments): 
I've found the documentation to be a bit sketchy, sometimes not correct,
and somewhat difficult to find things.  I am not experienced as a Chair and
I had a tough time getting into the role.  Also -- some of the
documentation has not been accessible by a person who is not a member of
the W3C.  On the other hand, W3C staff has responded wonderfully to my
somewhat doofus problems, and in particular their upgrade of the Trackbot
function has been very helpful.

I cannot give the "overall experience" higher than a 3 because the group
has been kind of marginal in its effectiveness so far.  That, however, is
OUR fault, not yours.




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Work Flow
----
Questions 4 through 9 focus on work flow.




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Discovery
----
Did you find it easy to discover groups of interest to you?


 * (x) Yes
 * ( ) No

If not, why? (or any other comments): 
It has been easy because W3C staff and experienced W3C members have been
personally helpful.  I have not been very successful and "discovery"
without human assistance.  As always, however, the W3C family has been very
helpful and kind.




---------------------------------
Group Type Comparison
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If you have experience in both Working Group and Community or Business
Group, what advantages do you see for Working Groups? for Community or
Business Groups?

Comments (or a URI pointing to your comments): 
WG - More W3C involvement is very useful, stricter process focuses effort

BG - Availability to non-members is KEY, looser process allows more
flexibility




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Decision-making
----
How is your Community or Business Group organized to make decisions? Have
you reached decisions on challenging problems? We'd love to hear your
successes or obstacles you've faced.
Comments (or a URI pointing to your comments): 
Too early to have any big decisions, but we seem to be successfully
focusing our scope onto a particular use case.  Process is modeled after
W3C norms and tradition as much as possible.  That is, reach for consensus.
 So far no huge controversies, but we may have one coming up re relevance
of an ISO standard and activity in another organization and how involved we
should be with that activity.  We shall see how this plays out, but
hopefully it will be done with civility and reasonable consensus. 




---------------------------------
Ensuring Progress
----
Are you satisfied with how the Community or Business Group makes progress?
What would enable you to make better progress?

Comments (or a URI pointing to your comments): 
Modestly satisfied with modest progress.  Limiting factors are the limited
time and effort the participants are willing/able to put into the job and
-- big factor -- lack of participation from key industry segments.  That
is, we have no representation from the tech services sector, which is
really important in our industry.  Again, our fault not yours.




---------------------------------
Transition to Working Group
----
Do you expect to advance Community or Business Group deliverables to a W3C
Working Group? Please use the comment field for any information about the
transition (time frame, perceived obstacles or challenges).


 * ( ) Yes
 * (x) No
 * ( ) In discussion but not decided
 * ( ) No idea

Comments (or a URI pointing to your comments): 
We expect to advance deliverables to suitable industry standards groups for
further development and support.  Details of how this handoff will work are
as yet a bit murky, but there seems to be a consensus that this is more or
less how it should work.




---------------------------------
Process, Patent and Copyright Policy, Contribution Agreements
----
Do you have any suggestions for changes to the
Community Groups and Business Groups process,
Contributor Agreement, or
Final Specification Agreement that would facilitate participation?
Comments (or a URI pointing to your comments): 
No.




---------------------------------
Overall User Interface
----
Please rate the usability of the following aspects:

 * The home page of your Community or Business Group: [ 3 +++ ] 
 * Other parts of the Community and Business Group Web site.: [ 3 +++ ] 

Comments (or a URI pointing to your comments): 
The Web tools provided on the group site are excellent.  We have not,
however, really developed the site very effectively.  Once again, it's us
not you. 




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User Accounts
----
Please rate the usability of any of the following actions you carried out.

 * Requesting an account (if you did so just for Community Groups and
Business Groups): [ 3 +++ ] 
 * Updating your affiliation in your account (if you were asked to do so):
[ No opinion ] 

Comments (or a URI pointing to your comments): 
I have had significant difficulties because my user account does not have
enough privilege to access resources that would be useful or necessary. 
W3C staff has been very cooperative and helpful in this, and it appears to
me that y'all are beginning to get the access control profiles defined more
appropriately.  That is, things seem to be working better.




---------------------------------
Joining a Group
----
Please, select the case that applies to you and comment on your experience
joining a group (via the click-through form).


 * (x) I joined as a W3C Member employee, my request was processed by my
organization's Advisory Committee Representative
 * ( ) I joined as a non-W3C Member employee, after getting my
organization's patent and copyright commitment
 * ( ) I joined as an individual, unaffiliated with any organization

Comments (or a URI pointing to your comments): 
I joined as a member employee but became an unaffiliated (and unemployed)
individual after joining.  Joining is very easy via the click-through and
has not been, to my knowledge, a problem for any of our group members.




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Creating a Group
----
If you created a group, rate the usability of the following aspects:

 * Clarity of the process for proposing a group: [ 5 +++++ (highest) ] 
 * Clarity of the process by which people express support for a group: [ 4
++++ ] 

Comments (or a URI pointing to your comments): 





---------------------------------
Group Operations
----
Rate the usability of any of the following operations you have carried out.

 * Choosing a chair (via checkboxes on the participants page): [ 5 +++++
(highest) ] 
 * Publishing a draft specification (available to Chairs only): [ No
opinion ] 
 * Publishing a final specification (available to Chairs only): [ No
opinion ] 
 * Making a final specification commitment (through the click-through
form): [ No opinion ] 

Comments (or a URI pointing to your comments): 





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Suggestion Box
----
What can we do to improve the experience of participating in a Community
Group or Business Group, tools you would find useful, or changes to enable
you to work more effectively?
Feedback: 
More appropriate access controls for non-members.




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Testimonial
----
To help W3C spread the word about Community and Business Groups, we invite
you to provide a 1-paragraph testimonial about your Community Group or
Business Group experience that you authorize us to publicize. This is
purely optional.
Comments (or a URI pointing to your comments): 
The Oil, Gas and Chemicals Business Group is an experiment and definitely a
work in progress.  We do not know at this time how successful it will be,
but our initial efforts have been encouraging.  W3C staff have been
incredibly helpful and patient.


These answers were last modified on 1 August 2012 at 15:38:01 U.T.C.
by Roger Cutler

Answers to this questionnaire can be set and changed at
https://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/1/2012CGBGsurvey/ until 2012-09-30.

 Regards,

 The Automatic WBS Mailer

Received on Wednesday, 1 August 2012 15:39:06 UTC